Broadband Networking Wireless Notebook Kit MN-820 gives you everything you need to set up an 802.11g wireless network for your desktop and notebook computers. Easy to set up, this kit includes a base station, notebook adapter, and Ethernet cable.
1 A Waste of Time and Effort
What can I say? I spent 2 days struggling with this heap of junk trying to manually configure it for a small business network of mixed Linux and Windows machines. The router/access point froze, lost Dynamic IPs, refused to allow connections to the web based administration page and was, in general, a flakey bit of junk!
I nearly wore out the reset button on the router and NEVER even got to trying to install the G card on my laptop, but gave up in frustration and packed it all back up and returned it.
If you doubt my sanity, do a quick Google search on "MN-700 Wireless Station Problem" (the wireless router in this kit) and SEE what junk MS has foisted on the public. Seeing as how MS is dumping out of network hardware sales, it should give you a real clue as to their level of commitment to support this device.
Four thumbs DOWN. RUN AWAY!
2 Excelent option for home office WLAN
Im a CCNA and i am a fan of all that is networking, im always setting up workgroups at my house using wired networks for playing Age of Empires and Warcraft. It usually takes me 30 minutes to setup the network, sometimes even more. Since i get this wireless Kit, setting up the network is a first time 10 minutes...... Then... its just enter to the room and all ready to go. The router has a very good performance, i have very goog signal all over the house. Im very satisfaced with this product. The network performs great.
But this product is for a home or a home office network, por medium size business i don't recommend it. It`s better go with Linksys, it has a stronger signal but if you wanted to get wireless at your house, it is better this kit because it saves you money and has good performance. It is of easy installing and easy programing even if your are not a computer geek like me.
A friend of mine has a Netgear wireless card and when he comes home he has 0 trouble to connect to my network (obviosly i had disconected the security on my router)and has full signal.
I haven`t experienced any downside for the time been like some of the reviewers here. First time that Microsoft makes a product that fully satisfies me.
3 Work perfectly
We all have different configurations so some will have problems and others won't but this product worked perfectly for me the very first time and I've been using it for weeks now. The range is amazing. I can walk all over my house and my yard with maximum signal most of the time. I'm impressed and very happy. The price is also less than that of competitors 802.11g products.
4 Microsoft has made this Extraordinary product Obsolete
Microsoft will support Networking Hardware for another 2 years [countdown from summer 2004] and will not indulge in any recall of this [these] Wireless-G product(s). Nevertheless, Microsoft has decided to get out of networking hardware which is one reason why the price on this product is sinking.
I have tried almost every other competitive Wireless-B/G and Wired Network Base Station and PCMCIA Network Card products on the US market and absolutely nothing comes close to the elegance of setup, clarity of network management and simplicity of use. It is a thorough shame that Microsoft is exiting Networking Hardware.
If you buy this, you'd be very satisfied and just plunk the savings [$100 in some cases] in price-difference in a simple 2-year bank savings and you can easily afford to replace it in a few years with far faster technology, microsoft or not.
It is one of the few things from the entire Networking marketplace that could have hammered Apple Airport and its nifty music reciever, but alas... Bill Gates does not tolerate simplicity and well-working products just to maintain his "buggy-technology" image he has so well honed over the decades!
5 pay attention
Not paying attention to the type of network I had (I had assumed I had straight Ethernet,) getting this combination to work with a PPPoE pre-existing network is not a trivial task--as far as the amount of time and trial and error heuristic employed. When all else failed, only by scrapping all prior network related installations (router + network adapters + DSL modem) and rebuilding the stack from scratch got the whole thing working. Now, that everything is up and running on two different computers (802.11g and 802.11b,) the whole package behaves 90% as advertised/desired.
So, as suggestions for future buyers: open well your eyes as to what type of network you want this package to run onto. PPPoE can require some skill/luck and patience. When first installing the base, it's a good idea not to assume anything about the options you are presented with by the setup wizard. Click for help and understand what all the options on the screen can be about. Only then can you make your selection and hit next. As well, in an environment with different providers for the network adapters, be careful about the configuration of the non-Microsoft card. You need to know the name of the network, the encryption key, etc. Knowing (how) to use the web interface, once the base is installed, helps a lot. The IP numeric address is provided in the help section; you introduce it on a web browser and things will move from there.
Had the folks in Redmond done a more thorough testing of, at least, the major types of install in the U.S. and either documented properly or built the whole package not so sensible to, what I consider, slight variations of install steps/conditions, it would have deserved a 5 star rating. However, since this is not the case, Microsoft Wireless-G Notebook Kit barely gets a 4-star rating. Watch this space for an update in case anything deteriorates within the next 30 days.
6 Excellent value
With the cost of this product being so low, I bought one figuring that I couldn't go wrong. I've been very pleased with the performance of this product. Signal across my entire house is good from even the greatest distance. Typically, I get Very Good to excellent signal. One note, follow the instructions and install the software first. Being network saavy, I tried to just setup the router first and then the wireless. This caused some connectivity issues. I let the software wizard do the setup and download latest software updates, and everything has been good ever since. One other note, make sure that the adapter and router are set to 54 G - performance setting. Mine defaulted to 802.11b.
7 Excellent product
I upgraded our router/notebook card from the MN-500 to the MN-820, after our notebook card was damaged. (Never leave the computer leaning card side down against the furniture around small children!)
We were happy with the 500. However, the 820 is a dramatic improvement. We are noticing even better reception around the house and much faster data transfer, going from 802.b to 802.g. Only one little speed-bump with the installation wizard. An error message popped up, but after closing it, the wizard seemed to continue on its own. It finished the job successfully.
I noticed that Microsoft included multiple stickers/warnings in the packaging instructing you to install the router & notebook card ONLY AFTER the wizard tells you too. We had some trouble installing the original mn-500 because we jumped the gun and plugged in the hardware before we were supposed to. Microsoft will probably get far fewer service calls thanks to all the stickers.
You could have two computers connnected with 128 WEP encryption in about 20 minutes after opening the box. Don't skip the encryption section of the wizard. Without WEP, anyone with a wireless card could view your shared directories and use your internet connection. Someone in my neighborhood is using an unsecured wireless network. My laptop can see it! With one click, I could be on it.
I would recommend this product. It's my second Microsoft router/card system and I'll probably go with Microsoft for another future upgrade.
8 Save your money
This product is horrible. Instead of wasting your money (and a LOT of time later on) spend it on an actually decent product from a respectable company. I have never bought anything from Microsoft that I've been happy with, and this is no exception. There is nothing more than annoying than trying to figure out why your MN-720 54mbps 802.11g card is not able to find the wireless router from a staggering distance of one foot away. Obviously, I am biased against Microsoft, but that is because of experiences like that I have had with this wireless card and this wireless access point. It is apparent that I can get online, but that was after an hour of resetting the router and messing with the card's configuration (slamming the card against something hard works though). If you are getting a new wireless card and router, buy something of decent quality, like, say, Linksys or D-link. These company's focus on one thing and do it well, whereas Microsoft tries to focus on everything, and doing everything poorly.
9 Plug and Go!!!
I've owned 2 other Wireless access point (802.11b models). I was able to switch one of them over to the Microsoft one with no problems. I was up and running in less than 15 minutes. The web interface is easy to use and has a bunch of options. I've had no connection problems. The network pc card works great too. Excellent connection and works great with other access points. I would definently recommend this kit for laptop users.
10 Very disappointed here....
After reading several reviews at another site, I decided to give this a try... Setting up the Base Station (router)went like clockwork until it asks you to save your settings on the supplied floppy. The floppy wouldnt even work! I got an error screen saying that the floppy was incorrectly formatted and to use another...or print out your settings (which I did). No big deal, I figured. Everything went downhill from there! After loading the software for the wireless card and going through the setup for the wireless card, right toward the end, where it asks you to enter the WEP numbers that I wrote down, it kept giving me an error screen saying that the number was wrong! Well, after trying several times, I contacted customer support. Well, the first woman I talked to could barely speak any English...after 15 minutes of "pardon me", "excuse me" or flat out "huh"? (I couldnt understand her) we finally got to the point of her transferring me to another woman. Lordy, it must have been her cousin...her English skills were just as bad!THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS! After 1 1/2 hours on the phone, we got it working. It worked well for (3) days. Then the whole "kaboodle" quit working. After resetting it THREE times the router started working...but NOT the wireless part of it. Now I get a message on my laptop "no wireless group available". No way am I going through tech support again...this is getting returned!
11 Like Cake
As a Wifi newbie and general Luddite, I was apprehensive about this technology. I'm running just one semi-ancient ultraportable Pentium III laptop with no Ethernet port, no internal CD/DVD drive, and only one PCMCIA slot. Nevertheless, I didn't have any problems setting this kit up. Installation was flawless: loaded the software, configured the adapter card and then set the router wirelessly from the laptop.
Dunno if support's as lousy as everyone says, because I haven't had to use it in two months I've had this. No problems with interference, lost connections or other weirdness. Download speed is faster than my workplace LAN. Caveat: I live in a small apartment and am not running a bunch of wireless devices. YMMV. For the price, I'm pleased. It seems custom made for dummies like me.
12 Very good product
I purchased this kit recently and installed at home. I have Deasktop with xp pro and laptop with xp home. I just followed setup instructions and did not have any problem during installation. Everything works fine.
13 Microsoft is getting out of Wifi business! Bad cust ser wil
FYI. Microsoft is getting out of the Wifi business. So the lousy call service will get worse. They botched the g version loyally as they tried to design it instead relying on SMC like they did on b version. Result? LOUSY hardware! What the hell do they know about hardware anyway.
As for calling them, I called and was greeted by someone in US and he promptly handed me to somebody in India and I swear I couldn't understand them (spoke to 2 people).
Lousy hardware and service...
AVOID AND GET REAL WIFI PRODUCTS FROM LINKSYS, NETGEAR, DLINK OR HOST OF OTHERS.
PS - good riddance by unloading it on ebay.
14 Works great!
The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because the installation process gave me one little scare. I am not even sure if the problem was the installation itself or the old notebook PC with WinME I was using. The installation of the base hardware and software was flawless. The installation of the software in my old notebook got stuck once and I thought it would not work, but it worked fine in the end. The connection is fast, we get a strong signal and no interference. Maybe we are lucky in this area (we get bad cell phone coverage, so there is probably no interference from that source). Anyway, I had heard very good things about this equipment and they proved true.
15 DON'T BUY IT
I also purchased this based on the excellent customer support references. Those references must have been given before Microsoft sent their tech support overseas. On my first call I talked to two support people. They couldn't understand me and I couldn't understand them enough to tell what they wanted me to do. The second one kept saying "This is not a problem." It is. I'm sending it back.
16 So far, so good
The installation requires a bit of patience, particularly when you are dealing with an older notebook, but it went as per the instructions. My desktop PC at the base seems unaffected by the addition and shows the same connection speeds as before. The notebook never had Internet connection, but the one it has now is very good considering the PC itself is slower than the connection. I have DSL and the modem is the original one I got from the ISP. The notebook is my partner's and the desktop PC is mine. So far, so good...
17 Rocky start but great finish!
Let me start by saving you some time if you are installing your router via PPPOE. Connect the router to your PC, but then install a firmware update to the router from the Microsoft website, before you try to enter in any information for your home using their software on the computer. This will save you all the trouble in the world, it fixes the PPPOE connection problem.
After that initial problem, everything worked fine...great connection speeds and good range as well.
I only give it 4 stars because of the initial problem that took me almost 2 hours to fix, but well worth the money after a couple weeks worth of use.
18 Got tech support?
We purchased this product largely based on the positive reviews of Microsoft tech support that we read on Amazon. One of the main differences between the major vendors of notebook cards and routers is tech support. A pivotal factor for us was the quality and availability of tech support because this is our first wireless system. When we experienced problems with the installation we tried to access tech support and reached inexperienced, off-shore techs who were unable to diagnose or solve the problem in over three hours.
Not only did the installation go poorly, but it crippled our system and has made it impossible to access the internet at all. Quite a disaster for us. They refused to escalate the case and couldn't seem to find anyone who spoke English clearly enough to communicate effectively with us. We finally gave up and are returning the product.
Save yourself and don't buy this product unless you have an experienced in-house technical support team. Microsoft clearly isn't going to be there to assist you.
19 What East Hartford Said
What East Hartford said. I had/have the exact same problem. Loss of connection for approximately 10-20 seconds every minute or two. Not a real problem if you're a casual surfer. Real problem if you require a constant/reliable connection.
I was set at channel 6, switched to channel 1 (planning to run through them all 1 by 1). Channel 1 appears to be working well. I'll know better in a few days. If not, I'll start working through them all. Like E.H., I show no other networks, but something is causing interference.
If you have this problem, start changing up your channels.
As for setup and operation (aside from the above glitch) it was amazing. Very, very, very easy. I believe I was up and running in 15 minutes with my desktop, laptop and WPA encryption.
Edit 01/07/04: Nevermind. Been through all the channels and still having the same problem. Going to scrap this unit. Too bad too, because otherwise it was near perfect.
20 Peter West
I'm very happy with this product. It was very easy to setup, and it works great. I've roamed all over my apartment and have had not trouble maintaining a connection and keeping very good download speeds. I held out for the Wireless-G products because I didn't want to have to upgrade, and I'm glad I did.
Updating the software was easy, since the product automatically checks to see if there are any updates available each time I boot one of my computers. Everything is working great, right away.
21 Constant Loss of Wireless Connection
I had no problems at all with the computers that were connected via wires to this router. The wireless connection, on the other hand, was HORRIBLE!!!! The signal strength was great throughout the entire house, but the connection would just drop (every minute or so) for no reason.
I was hoping the firmware update that the other reviewers mentioned would fix the issue, and unfortunatelly it did NOT. The connection just keep dropping. Hopefully there is a fix out there. If there isn't, I will be returning this kit. I will let you know how this turns out!!!!!
EDIT-12/12/03. I found the issue. The channel I was using was the problem. I was using channel 5 instead of the default channel 6. Once I swichted it to channel 6 everything was fantastic (maybe something in my area was causing interference with channel 5 - there are no other visible wireless networks in my area). The signal strength was strong. I even tried blocking the signal as best as I could, but no matter what I did the signal remained strong and download speeds were unaffected. Its a great buy!!!
22 Excellent Wireless G Router!!
I ordered the MN-820 from amazon for $129 w/ a $30 rebate. Just got it in hand 25 minutes ago and i'm already setup, updated and enjoying excellent signal strength all over my house. Very easy to set up. I am using an IBM laptop with win xppro and all went without a hitch. i also ordered the wireless xbox adapter but that order has not yet arrived. but if it's as easy to setup as the PC was, there should be no problems. excellent product.
23 Lose Connection
This thing is driving me crazy. I can't maintain an internet connection once the base station is connected. Apparently this is a problem for PPPOE connnections. It doesn't make sense. I am going to try to find an upgrade on the net, but it is looking like I am going to return it. The only positve thing is that it looks nice and can connect at 54MBs.
24 Buggy router firmware
I had to return the router because the wired connection to my desktop dropped the internet connection every few minutes and I had to reboot the computer/dsl modem/router everytime to reset the connection. Apparently, this was a common problem of people who connected to the internet via PPOE. I do not understand how Microsoft delivered this product without proper testing; I guess it is just like their operating systems and other software: Just rush them out to the market and the fixes will follow.
The wireless PCMCIA card worked just fine, I must admit. But since I wanted a complete set of hardware, I returned both.
25 Easy Install - Works Great
I had a DLink wired router through which I connected my desktop (Gateway), Laptop (Dell) and IMac. I bought an IPAQ 4100 (built in 902.11b) and thought I might as well get onboard the wireless wave and try it out. I nervously tore the DLink out, followed the directions that Microsft sent with the unit and I was up and running in no time. I had a little trouble at first, but a quick call to Microsoft Network Tech support (free for two years with purchase of product)solved the problem. They just had me shut everything down, then resart everything. It all worked - the laptop through the included wireless network adapter, the IPAQ, and the Imac (wired). The shared printer took a little time to figure out, but that too is now up and running.
Great product. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
26 Firmware, as shipped, is very buggy
The router is neat, and software installation is straightforward.
Then the problems start. It connected to the internet, and proclaimed it was in desparate need of a software and firmware upgrade. I told it to do the download, but it hung half way through. Every time I transferred data from the internet, the router would go AWOL after a page or two (I couldn't even ping it). I had to power cycle the router.
Eventually, I re-installed by old router, downloaded the upgrade, then went back to the MS router and upgraded it. It has worked fine since.
BUT, the wireless range is underwhelming. When I tried 802.11b a couple of years ago, I had a blind spot in my house, in the room I used the laptop. I had assumed that this blind spot would be gone in a much more recent 802.11g product, but it's still there.
I'll probably be returning it.
To recap: reasonably nice unit, works fine once you update the firmware, but too buggy to use initially to download the firmware upgrade.
27 Microsoft is # 1, or what?
It's easy to install, no fuss and convenient all the way. We're the proud owner of this new MN-820! Love it and highly recommended to others. Thanks Microsoft!
28 Just my opinion
The biggest problem, especially with PCMCIA Wireless cards, is that it looses connection sometimes. It's not only the problem with this unit, but other wireless cards as well. Although some might disagree.
I personality did not have any disconnectivities even when I have been using the internet heavily. Set up was extremely easy. And I don't like the program that Microsoft provides, so I deleted the program not the driver, and it still worked.
Here is the kink. If you are in an Apartment, Condo, or populated area, chances are, you will run into other wireless networks. If you search it, you will find other wireless networks. AND you will be able to access those networks because most people do not set up passwords. (well, at least I don't. Too lazy...)
That means, someone can access yours. And from wireless modem you CANNOT change the settings on the router/network, which means you are left vulnerable. Unless you have a wired connection to the router and set up the network. This could slow down the speed of your internet if someone can use your access point.
2.4 GHz wireless Phones also can affect the connection. As well as sometimes even cellphones.
Bottom line: this is an outstanding unit to be worked on certain environments. Not all.
And Wireless Kit is for your convenience of moving around within the access point range with your notebook, not to protect you or give you a better internet performance.
29 Mutual interference from other nearby wireless networks
I purchased the MN-820 Wireless notebook kit recently and had no problems with installation and operation of the wireless system. However, I live in a condo in a major city. It appears other people also operate a wireless network system in the building. When other wireless networks are operating at the same time as I am, I will be unable to connect and operate my wireless network because of a WEP security interference with the other wireless systems. I will have excellent signal strength, but will be unable to connect to the internet because of a mutual security interference from other wireless units in the building. It appears Microsoft has not encoded the WEP security key in such a manner as to avoid mutual interference from other wireless systems that operate on the same default channel as their wireless network. It is frustrating to be "knocked off" your wireless network with an error message of an "incorrect security key" when that is not the case. I will have to talk to Microsoft technical people to see how to reduce the interference problem. Wish me luck
30 Easy Set Up, Software Problems
I mistakenly rushed to get the 802.11g kit from Microsoft because I liked what they'd done with the 802.11b notebook kit and wanted a higher data transfer rate on my wireless network.
As usual, set up is a cinch. Installation and initial configuration takes about 5 minutes. I would like to have seen Microsoft provide some more advanced installation options like selecting non-default gateway IP address, a wizard for selecting which ports to forward, etc.
Then the problems start. Basically, my network and internet connection drops every minute or so requiring a restart of both the router and my DSL modem. I've been through the manual a million times, nothing works!!!
This is completely substandard considering that early reports showed the 802.11b kit suffered from similar problems. I've figured out that the problems are related to the firmware which the kit ships with. I hope Microsoft will come out with an update very soon, otherwise I'm returning this thing!!!!
Wait to buy the 802.11g until they fix the bugs otherwise try the Linksys.
